Dealing with Noise from Drive Pedals

[siangster90]

Hi,

Im currently playing an '08 Fender American Standard Stratocaster and running it through three stompboxes - Marshall Guv'nor (Distortion), MXR Wylde Overdrive, and Marshall Echohead (Delay).

Whenever i stomp on the distortion with the overdrive I get a little bit of noise coming through the amp, sth like white noise. This isn't the hum from single coils, it's there even when i use the hum-cancelling pick-up selection. It's like a "ssshhhh" sound.

It's only obvious when both drive pedals are on together.

Is this normal? If so, would a noise gate pedal help to reduce or, better yet, get rid of the noise.

Would greatly appreciate any help.
Thanks.

 

[wadthefish]

You might wanna try reducing the gain levels or u could just live with the noise and roll off the volume knob when you are not playing.

 

[dudelove]

its normal when stacking. i avoid noise gates cos they tend to get rid of my sustain even at low settings.

if its bearable its fine. if its way too hissy, then u might want to lower the gain on either pedals.

also u're using single coils. i assume their not noiseless, so u'll have to live with the hum. its just like that.

You might wanna try reducing the gain levels or u could just live with the noise and roll off the volume knob when you are not playing.

from my experience, the hiss will still be there even when the volume knob is completely rolled off

 

[EugeneSmasher]

Is the noise very loud? If it is still quite subtle, it should be fine since it's normal when running two drives together. But like dudelove said, try lowering the gain particularly on the lower-gain pedal in your rig, because I assume you're using it to boost the other pedal?

 

[bigblackbear]

you might wanna try a get a boss ns-2 or any other noise suppressor. not everyone likes it. some claim it's tone sucking, while others say it works wonders.

see if it works for you

 

[Plastic]

Make music with the noise.

 

[tubescreamer]

Are your amp and power supply grounded? I.e. do they have a 3 pin plug to the mains?

 

[Kimmi]

both the 3 pin change and ns2 worked wonders for me but still gotta control the gain on my pedals at the end of the day.

 

[siangster90]

its normal when stacking. i avoid noise gates cos they tend to get rid of my sustain even at low settings.

if its bearable its fine. if its way too hissy, then u might want to lower the gain on either pedals.

also u're using single coils. i assume their not noiseless, so u'll have to live with the hum. its just like that.



from my experience, the hiss will still be there even when the volume knob is completely rolled off

Thanks. Yea the hiss is still there even with the volume knob rolled off. In fact, so long as the two pedals are on together, there's a hiss. With the OD on, I tried reducing the gain on the Guv'nor to zero, but the hiss is still there. With OD on alone, the noise is hardly there at all.

Im aware abt the hum from the single coils. But it's not the hum, it's this hissing noise that i get even on the middle+bridge or middle+neck pick-up mix.

Any idea whether a noise suppressor will help with that?

 

[bigblackbear]

i think most noise suppressors should do the job, but the one which seems to be pretty popular (could be partly because of it's price and availability) is the boss ns-2

 

[superpotato_30]

im not very sure of your pedals but some distortions are meant to be 'stand alone' pedals. In other words they arent meant to be stacked or boosted.



Alternatively like what others have said, your gain settings may be too high. Try tweaking them a little. When you activate both pedals, the drive/gain of each pedal can never be as high as when used alone.

Unless u want the hissing

Yes and apparently single coils are rather noisy ( 60 cycle hum, etc )